Please help me find a better ending sentence!The Legend of the Griffin

As I stumbled down the passageway, the lights flickered around me. Heavy wind pushed me around violently. Standing on my hind legs, I tried to appear as much like a human as possible. My dark cloak swept over the ground, occasionally lifting up as my wings unfolded. Folding them for so long made them cramped and I couldn’t resist doing it for just a little bit. My tail trailed behind my cloak, covered in a thick layer of dirt and mud.

Jeez, gripping this cloak was hard. With a WHOOSH! Of wind, my cloak fell down. My wings, beak, tail, and everything else about me were revealed. “Shoot!” I exclaimed. I heard a gasp above me and looked up to see a guard, staring right at me. He was dressed in a dark footie, sort of like a diving suit I saw a human wearing when swimming. I was on my afternoon flight. I checked out for a few seconds, and that cost me dearly. I saw him signal to someone on the other side and suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my side. “Hmm…” I mumbled. The ground looked so soft. I looked at my side and saw a bright red dart sticking out of my side. “Don’t you dare!” I muttered, and pulled it out. Before they could do anything else, I gripped it in my talons and threw it at the nearest guard. The sleepiness started to wear off as a bit of my magic trickled through my veins. I spread my wings and WHOOSH!!! I was off, rocketing toward the last man standing and knocking him over.

“OOF!” His head hit the ground hard and then he was out. I flew over to the opposite side and found the other guy sleeping. I knocked his head into the ground too, for good measure. Then I soared down to where I was disrupted before, grabbed up my cloak, and continued, this time a little faster, down the passageway.

*******

So, I thought I might do a little explaining. I’m Rhea the Griffin. The Griffin. You know, The Griffin of THE Legend. But, you probably don’t even know what the legend is, so I guess explain it to you. This is how it goes:

Poem, blah blah blah, more poems, more blah’s.

Then, there’s the part about me. (Why doesn’t that rhyme?)

THE BLACK GRIFFIN,

THE ONE WHO STANDS APART,

WIL SAVE US FROM

THE DANGER NEVERENDING.

Whoo-hoo. OK. There’s a whole prophecy ab0ut me. Yay. Yip-ee for me. So I’m definitely not the least bit uncomfortable about this. Everyone in my country knows who I am, because I’m THE ONE WHO STANDS APART. Ooh, lucky me. I have to go on this magnificent quest and save the Griffins of Midia. I mean, I don’t want my species to die off. It’s just, why me? There are plenty of others who actually want the attention.

*******

I sneaked into the room, huge clouds of dust attacking as my feet woke them from their long slumber. Shelves and shelves of books ran in a huge maze all around the gigantic room. What the humans did with all these books, I didn’t know. By the looks of all this dust, no one had been in here for years. I navigated my way around the maze for about half an hour, finding several dead ends. Finally, I came to the center. In the middle stood a pedestal, an open book resting on top of it. I reverently took of my cloak and set it gently beside me. I blew over the pages of the book softly. All I had been trying to do was read the book, but what really happened was completely unexpected.

The pedestal, book and all, sank into the floor, swerved off to the side, and suddenly, I was standing in front of a stairwell made of… was that ice? The ceiling was way down low, and I knew that if I even tried to spread my wings, I’d break them. I decided to try my luck and descend the stairs. The temperature of the chamber dropped lower and lower the farther I got underground. After about an hour of climbing, I stopped at the end. The ceiling was higher now, and I could fly with a little constraint if I wanted to now. Several icicles hang from the ceiling like stalagmites, some thick enough and long enough that they touched the ground. Then something went DING!!! I shot into the air like a rocket, banged my head on the ceiling, and dropped behind an icicle just in time to see an elevator door open that I hadn’t even seen before, and see a ghostly figure step out of the elevator. A pale guard stepped out behind it. The figure was cover in a sort of dark mist, writhing and squirming all over his body like a snake. He was tall, at least 8 feet tall, taller than Shawn Bradley. (A lot of talls, eh? That just shows you how tall he is. [Wink wink]) He was about as high as an adult griffin standing up. Whenever he stopped moving, he blended into the shadows and I could barely tell he was there. The only thing that gave him away was the snake-like mist wriggling like dying worms all over his body.

The creature turned and looked down on the man standing behind him. I noticed the man was wearing a torn-up uniform with blood stains on it. Looking beneath the torn clothes, I saw several scars and fresh blood on his skin. Suddenly, the creature’s head jerked toward me. I darted behind the icicle. I heard something move, like the creature was turning. Then I heard a thin, raspy voice.

“Come here, Mafikilate.” Mafikilate? What sort of name was that?

“My lord Silistin, with all due respect, my name is not… whatever you called me…” He trailed off. I turned around the icicle. The creature-Silistin- had turned away from me now. “I do not care!” He hissed. “I will call you what I please!” I caught the gaze of the guard. HELP ME!!! His eyes screamed.

I knew I had to do something. So I came to one of the stupidest decisions I’d ever made in my life. I jumped out from behind the icicle, and lunged at Dying-Worm-Guy. He swept around faster than I thought possible. He held out his hands (were those really hands?) and dark mist shaped like writhing snakes shot out of his hands. It hit me and I was blown back, knocked into the icicle. The darkness surrounded me, suffocating me. I passed out.

*******

I woke up clamped to a bed, unable to move. It was a small bed, though I could see how it could be the right size for two people. Bright lights shone down on my eyes, making me feel dizzy. Several faces peered down on me. I was being poked and prodded, and injected with several different serums. It felt like I was being injected with peanut butter. I looked at the serums and realized I probably was.

My mouth was clamped shut, my feet in big metal gloves that made my sharp talons and claws not so sharp. I also couldn’t move them, they were so heavy. My tail was chained, though I didn’t know why. Were they afraid it was going to turn into a snake and bite them? The thought would’ve made me laugh, but my mouth couldn’t move so I just giggled. The people around me jumped, screamed, and ran away, hiding behind several big objects. Reluctantly, they came out. One guy came up and stuck me with a needle connected to a long wire, which led to one of the objects. They began to get braver and started experimenting with me, making me feel the weirdest things with their technology. They zapped me and hurt me, but soon (it felt like forever) they were done with me. They unstrapped me, but when I tried to move, I couldn’t. They moved me onto a wheelie bed, and rolled me down several winding hallways. I’m paralyzed, I thought. It must have been something they injected in me. I began to get sick, watching the lights pass by. Spots sneaked their way into my vision.

Finally, they brought me into a dark room, unstrapped me, (I was still paralyzed) and left me. It took a little while, but soon Silistin appeared in front of me. Like, literally appeared. I almost jumped, besides the fact that I couldn’t move. He laughed evilly, stopped for breath, and then began talking. “Oh, Rhea,” He shook his head sorrowfully. “Rhea, Rhea, Rhea.” I wanted to say, “What, what, what, Worm Guy?” But I couldn’t. As soon as those thoughts passed into my head, Silistin glared at me. “Worm Guy?!” He asked. A hard slap passed over my face. Just then, something brightened behind him. A screen flickered to life. He turned to look at it. “Ah, yes. This is what I’ve been working for the past two years of my life.” I stared at him quizzically, trying to calculate what he was talking about. He turned back toward me, as the screen showed a map of Amidifia. It zoomed in on one of Midia’s forests. “I was traveling on a quest through these forests.”

“For who?” I asked. He glared at me. “Stop it with the questions.” I think he forgot that I wasn’t supposed to be able to talk. But now I could, my magical powers fueling me and breaking the immobilization. Soon, I could move my wings and feet. My tail started twitching. Then, I was free. Silistin kept explaining about his plot for revenge on Midia, and I checked out. But then the thought came to me. Why does he want revenge on Midia? So I asked. He laughed bitterly. “You don’t know, do you?” I didn’t want to shake my head, as it might give my mobilization away. But it was a rhetorical question anyway. He was already explaining, though.

“First of all, let’s clear things up. I once was someone else, someone else entirely. I was known as… Salastar.” He must be looney, I thought. No one named Salastar has ever existed! “WHAT?!” He roared. “They have not told you about me!?” But then his posture relaxed. “It figures,” he mumbled. “They must have tried to cover it up. Well, I guess I might as well show you who I am.” He ripped off his cloak. Or, at least tried to. “Behold!” He yelled, then saw what I was looking at. “Erm… Behold…Behold!” He finally managed to rip off his cloak, and what I saw surprised me so much, that I screamed. Standing in front of me was a griffin… a black griffin. I sat up, mortified. Silistin/Salastar No, Dying Worm Guy… was a Griffin?! “I was sent on a quest, exactly like yours, and the High Griffins knew. They knew I would become the bad guy. Now, I have no choice but to kill you.” He sounded truly sorry. But there was angriness in his voice, too. He fell onto all four feet. His tail dropped lazily between his legs.

The dark worms still swirled around him. I concentrated, trying to summon my magic. It was probably nothing compared to his, but I’d still live longer. I leaped out of bed, lunging for Dying Worm Guy. Silver energy surrounded me, sending off a weak pulse of light. Worm Guy retaliated, powerful beams shooting from his body. I dodged them in the nick of time. I yelled, trying to copy him, but all that I managed to do was shoot a few beams. I dodged another flurry of darkness. Come on, Rhea! I thought. You can beat him! The prophecy said so! I got so distracted, I got hit by a worm. I crashed to the ground, shocked. I started to lose air, dark lines weaving over my vision. He loomed over me, sadness lingering in his eyes. But then they hardened, and he prepared to make the killing blow. “Wait!” I said. He hesitated. “Wait!” I repeated. “You don’t have to do this! The prophecy said that I have to save the Griffins, but that doesn’t mean that you or I have to kill each other!” He stopped, stepping away from me.

“How do you plan to do this?” He asked.

“Well, come with me and there will no longer be any danger…” he looked unconvinced.

“What will you do to convince the Council I’m innocent? And how will that complete the prophecy?”

“Well, you won’t be evil anymore,” I suggested. “But…” My heart sank. “You’ll still be a danger to the Griffins, and nobody will trust you.” As soon as those words came out, I silently cursed myself. You’re supposed to be convincing him, not giving him more reasons to kill you! But I could tell he wasn’t going to be convinced. He lunged, but I rolled away from him and got to my feet. Salastar tried to fly, but fell to the ground with a thump. His wings must not work! His wings were broken and torn, making it impossible to fly. I leapt into the air, leaping on his wings and crushing him to the ground. With one blow of my claws, he was dead.